How I Tidy As I Go

a mac laptop on a dining room table how to have a tidy-but-functional home

I like keeping our house tidy-but-functional so it doesn’t look super neat and organized, but everything that we use often is out. One thing that helps me keep up tidying around the house without taking time away from LB as she plays is I clean up behind her. I hope she picks up some good habits from me modeling but she has yet to gain an interest in folding laundry or putting toys away. While she’s awake I try not to take too much focus off of her because I want to be present with her as much as possible while she’s little.

Some of the small things I do to tidy while she plays is I will throw things belonging in another room into the hallway. Then, when we leave the room, I take those things with me. I throw them into the hallway so that they are in my way when we leave because my mom brain tends to forget things and if I just think ‘Take this with you when you leave’, I most likely won’t.

Another place where I just do small things at a time is in the kitchen. I try to keep her out of the kitchen and so I don’t spend much time in there, but when I am in there to microwave something or wash my hands, I will just do little things such as move dirty dishes into the sink, or the dry dishes into the cupboard, soak a dirty dish in the sink, or throw trash away. When I get a longer break (if she’s playing well on her own or is asleep or playing with a visitor) then I will wash whatever is in the sink, or cook. I also tend to clean out the fridge in random spurts when it particularly annoys me. For instance, if I’m looking for what to pull out for lunch I’ll notice an old leftover, toss it, open the cheese drawer and toss a moldy cheese. It is better than letting it build up and having to dedicate time to clean out a fridge. Last week I was trying to make space on the door of the fridge and found an expired bottle which inspired me to examine all the bottles. In all, I threw out about 7 expired sauces/condiments/dressings. 

tidy up as you go

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